We are home!

We made it for Thanksgiving. What a whirlwind trip, that will forever change our lives. Since returning home I have not felt well so that is why it has taken me so long to post anything. The boys are adjusting better than I could have imagined. Just to tie you over until tomorrow here are a couple of pictures of our sons.

Last Update from Addis

Here is the e-mail I received from Wendy this morning at 7:03 a.m. Wisconsin time:

Well, in 27 hours we will be leaving for the airport! To me, it is overwhelming. We are leaving Ethiopia -- the boys' home, their culture and the people that adore their children. On the other hand, I am extremely excited to be going home. Tonight we will be packing and enjoying the last night at the Sidama Lodge. The people here are wonderful and they now have internet access. We could not have asked for anything better.

We miss you all and will see you soon.

Mark, Wendy, Char and the boys

Update from Addis

Here is what Wendy has to say -

Hello all,

The last several days have been extremely hectic and exhausting. On Wednesday, I was sick (must have been something I ate) which left Char and Mark to care for the boys. Since the last e-mail, things have not been going as smoothly as we would have liked it to go with Kaleab. On Tuesday night, he screamed 2 1/2 hours straight until I took him to the front desk so that the doorman and Alex could calm him down. However, as soon as I got him back upstairs, he started to cry all over again. Now we are on a first name basis with the staff at the Sidama Lodge and they come up almost every night to help us with Kaleab. We can tell that it will be a very hard transition for him -- so when we get home, do not feel bad if he will not come to you for it may take a while - hopefully by then Mark and I will be able to comfort him.

Other than that, everything else is going better. We went to the orphanage today to meet Kaleab's dad and unfortunately he did not show. We also found out that our boys never received our care packages that we sent. (Marissa, don't worry about your children, we were there when they opened their care packages.) Also, at the orphanage today Mark handed out a banana & orange to every child there and to the caretakes as well.

I should be going for now.

See you all soon.

Wendy, Mark, Char and the boys

We made it to Addis and have out little boys

Yeah!!! I heard from them. Here is the e-mail I received from Wendy & Mark:

Hello from Addis:

We made it, there is no doubt that the flight was very long. We still have not 100% adjusted to the time zone but are getting there. The Sidama Lodge is wonderful and has only been open 7 weeks. The staff has been excellent. There are a few minor inconveniences of staying here - one being the internet. They have wireless Internet which is great if you bring a laptop, so it has not been the easiest thing to deal with. The other downfall is that there are not too many restaurants nearby so we have to order our food which is OK. I think Mark and I will lose a little bit of weight before we get home.

We went to pick up the boys yesterday at the orphanage and experienced our first traditional coffee ceremony. We have the boys with us. In the first 24 hours, Mark and I have experienced the Ethiopian "blow out". Let me tell you nothing will prepare you for them. We definitely have our poop stories.

Kaleab is very shy and the only way he would come near us is for us to give him candy. Kaleab likes beep beeps (cars) and balls and he sticks his tongue out all the time. (Remind you of someone, mom?) Isaac is a very good natured baby and only cries when he is hundry or wants to get up. He is definitely close to crawling. He can get up on all fours and he likes to talk. Besides that, Isaac tries to put everything in his mouth.

We definitely estimated sizes wrong. Kaleab should be wearing 18 months and size 6 or 7 for shoes. Isaac should probably be wearing 3-6 months but he will grow into the 6-9 months that we have.

There is so much to say but we want to get back to the boys. We will definitely hug and kiss them for all of you. Please keep us in your prayers.

Hopefully we will be able to e-mail on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Thank you all for taking this journey with us.

Love,

Wendy, Mark and Char

In Ethiopia

Wendy and Mark should be in Ethiopia and should have already seen Kaleab and Isaac. I have not heard a thing and it is killing me. I was suppose to be there with them but about a month ago my dad's health was failing and I did not want to chance being in Ethiopia if something happened to him.

Now that my dad is doing better, I wish I was in Ethiopia. Oh well, let's assume that the boys are with their new mom, dad and grandma. Mark's mom went with them. I'm sure they were probably pretty busy today and they are probably getting some much needed sleep. I am so anxious to hear how the boys are.

One thing is for sure, they are now dressed like little boys.

I'm not much help but I thought I would post something because you are all probably also on edge - knowing that soon this will be your journey.

Take care all of you and keep the Tanis family in your prayers.

Mom

They're off!!

This is Wendy's mom. They have boarded the plane in Washington, D.C., heading to Ethiopia at 7:30. They are really excited and, of course, so am I. I will be posting while they are away.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Marge

1 day to go. . .

At this point everything seems very surreal. I can't believe tomorrow morning I will be getting up early to start our trip to Ethiopia. If everything goes well we will be holding our little boys on Monday when you all get up. Let's hope I remember to pack everything that we will need. Besides that I wanted to give you all of our flight information:

Saturday, November 10
Depart from Detroit at 2:30 pm
Arrive to Dulles at 4:06 pm

Depart from Dulles at 8:30 pm
Arrive in ETHIOPIA at 7:40 pm (Sunday, November 11)in EST 12:40 pm

Tuesday, November 20
Depart from Ethiopia at 10:15 pm

Wednesday, November 21
Arrive to Dulles at 7:20 am

Depart Dulles to Detroit on United flight number 7292 at 12:27 pm
Arrive in Detroit at 2:01 PM

I will try to post once more before we leave and then my mom will be posting for us while we are gone. Please keep us in our prayers throughout our trip.

Leaving in 6 days!!

I still can't believe I will be in Ethiopia in a week from now, FINALLY! Well we have made reservation at The Sidama Lodge this place was highly recommended by Alemu so hopefully it will be wonderful. We have booked a double room which means that there is 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a sitting area and a kitchen, I will give you all an update on what we think of the Sidama Lodge after we have stayed there a couple of days. I think it is right downtown, with lots of resturants & interent cafes within walking distance. I have received a couple of pictures of Sidama Lodge if you would like to see it however, I do not know what the rooms look like.

Besides that we were quite busy this weekend. My sister-in-laws and mother-in-laws threw me a shower on Saturday, they did a great job and I extermly enjoyed it. Thanks everyone! Of course the boys will be spoiled by everyone when they get home.

Saturday night Mark and I met up with the Doug and his wife (her name is escaping me right now), they adopted a little boy from the Mother Therasa Orphange in Ethiopia last February, he had some major health concerns but he is doing remarkable today. It was nice to talk about their trip and get pointers on several places that we have to see, and places to eat at. I have my list ready to go.

Today we ran some last minute errands and trying to put our house back in order before we leave.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend and is ready for the week to begin.

9 days and counting down . . . .

Ok, it is only 9 days until we travel and I am slightly stressing out. I received a call from Kurt today and it turns out that the New Flower Guesthouse is not located in a safe neighborhood and Alemu has security concerns. After seeing pictures of the neighborhood and talking it over with Mark we have cancelled our reservation at the New Flower Guesthouse. I feel a little guilty about this decision since I gave Helen my word that we were staying there and it is not easy for me to go back on my word however, at this point we have to do what is best for our family. The upside to all this is Alemu has found a couple of other options for us to stay at, whether they have room for us is the question. I will let you know where we will be staying as soon as I figure something out.

Besides that there is one upside of the day we received the boys adoption decree and birth certificates. Although I had no doubt that everything was legal, to see our names as parents on their birth certificate was amazing. The birth certificates contained birth dates of course they are estimated, maybe not for Kaleab's his may be his actually birthday. That was the good news for the day.

It is official, in January when I go back to work I will only be going back at part time. Mark and I knew this was coming since the housing market has not been that great for the last couple of years, but to tell you the truth I have never not worked full time. My boss is being very flexible about my schedule, I think I will be working M-TH 8-1, or 9-2. At the end of December Mark will be changing shifts so that he will be working nights (4pm -12 am) which will eliminate the need for daycare. The upside of this is that I will be able to spend more time with the boys which I am looking forward to.

Well, that's it for today. Hopefully by tomorrow night we will have a place to stay.

12 days and counting . . .

I can hardly believe in 12 days we will be getting on a plane for an experience of a lifetime. Throughout this whole adoption process it seemed like the end would never actually be here and now as we prepare to bring our two little boys home it seems that we are so close to the end. Mark and I have counted our blessings many times throughout this adoption, it has been an amazing journey. We have met many people that have become friends along the way, our court date went smooth (our hearts go out to those whose have not went as smoothly as ours) and we have two darling little boys waiting for us in Ethiopia.

Mark and I will be unable to attend the next get together as we will be beginning our journey on that day. We will be thinking about all of you that are waiting for your referrals, or waiting to travel or waiting to get the completed I-171H form and knowing that there will be an sweet little one waiting for you at the end of your journey. We know that is just the beginning of a life fully of new and exciting experiences for both our little boys and us and we can't wait.

During Beth and Deanna trip to pick up their little ones they took pictures of our boys and that made a tremendous difference while we waited. If I can do that for you that are waiting please let me know.

Sorry to keep this so short however I have a lot of cleaning, childproofing our house, and packing to complete.

Answer to Questions

To answer some of the questions I have been receiving we are flying in and out of Detroit.

To answer questions about the length of our stay. Since our embassy appointment is on Thursday, November 15 and the boys' VISA won't be ready until Monday we have to stay throught the weekend. Ethiopian Air has flights to Addis 5 days a week however they are not flying on Sunday, November 12 so the earliest we could get into Addis Ababa if we did not fly out on Saturday is Tuesday night. Then on the return trip we would have left on Monday night however Ethiopian Airlines does not have a flight leaving for Dulles on Monday. Hence we choice to get to Addis Ababa on Sunday night and get our children on Monday at this point I just want to hold my boys and a couple of extra days in Ethiopia isn't the end of the world. We will have several days were we can just relax - maybe even go to the Hilton pool?

At this point we are hoping to stay at the New Flower Guest House, I guess we will see about that on Monday.

If you have any questions along the way please let me know I will be more than happy to give you any insight I have. And yes I plan on updating my blog from Ethiopia so you can all follow along if you wish.

Leaving on November 10

Ok our travel arrangements are firm we are leaving Detroit on Saturday, November 10 for ETHIOPIA and arriving HOME on Wednesday, November 21.

That's it for now! Now I can begin making my packing lists, and start packing!

How exciting, we will be leaving 3 weeks from tomorrow.

Home for Thanksgiving . . . . . . . .

Well it appears that Mark and I will be leaving to pick up our boys sometime between Friday, November 9 and Monday, November 12. Our US Embassy appointment will be on Thursday, November 15, however since the US Embassy now needs 2 business days to get the VISA complete we will not be able to leave Ethiopia until Monday, November 22 depending on when Ethiopian Airlines schedule is. Wow, I have a lot to do prior to then. I guess I will have another busy weekend.

My prayers are extended out to all families that have upcoming court dates!

FINALLY we are going to Ethiopia . . .

I don't know exactly when but soon, our case made it through court today. Now we are waiting to hear back from Kurt on what day we can leave. Without waiting any longer here are our sons: Isaac and Kaleab.

No News . . . . . . .

Well if you wanted news about the court date check back on Monday. I was hoping the first pictures that I posted on this blog would have been of our two boys but since I have not heard about the court date I will wait until Monday to post their pictures.

Instead I will post a few pictures of the care packages that we sent to Kaleab and Yitbarek. The boys should have these by now, however that has not been confirmed. For all of those who sent care packages out did you get confirmation that they arrived??

Besides that the Adoption Shower went well. Kaleab and Yitbarek will be the best dressed boys in town. I counted and Kaleab has 19 pairs of size 3T pants - when will he get a chance to wear them all? Besides clothes we did get dipears, and toys. I can tell already Aunt Tammy, Grandma and Grandpa will spoil these kids rotten.

I got to get going as Mark and I have a very busy weekend planned getting everything ready for the boys.

We have a COURT DATE!!!

Our court date is Friday, October 12!!! If everything goes smoothly we will be leaving 4 weeks later.

I will write more later.

Another Week Goes By . . .

Well, tomorrow is already Friday. I spoke to Kurt today and he still has not heard anything concrete about the courts in Ethiopia reopening. Here's hoping that next week we get court date information.

I want to say congratulations to the Kikstras and the Bryants on there recent acceptance on their referrals this week.

Besides that there is a lot going on right now. This weekend I will be in Wisconsin for my adoption shower. I am pretty positive that I will be coming back to Michigan with a van full of stuff for the boys. Next week, I have to do some major cleaning as I will be having the carpets washed on October 13 and I want everything to ready for the boys come home, which I am hoping is before Thanksgiving (a girl can hope, right?). Then I have a wedding to attend and another adoption shower at the beginning of November.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Worth the Wait!!!!

Today, I have received some pictures of Kaleab and Yitbarek from Beth's trip. They were definitely worth the wait. The pictures showed a little bit of each of their personalities. However, it would have been nice if Kaleab didn't have pink pants on and Yitbarek wasn't in a butterfly & flower sleeper. I would like to share them with all of you however, I think it is best to wait until the court process is over and they are "legally" ours. If you have children at the Enetalem Orphanage and Beth has not e-mailed you the pictures, let me know and I will forward them on.

Stay tuned as I will have several more posts in the upcoming days.

Patiences - some have it and some don't

If you ask anyone that knows me they would say that I fit into the second catergory. I have been trying to be patient since Mark and I got married four years ago. We knew right away that we wanted to have kids right away, obviously that is not what God had in store for us. That is when I figured out that I did not have the patiences I once thought I did. Once we decided to start the adoption process, I began to pray to God to help me become more patient. It took 4 months 5 days to receive our referral and 3 weeks to receive additional medical information on Yitbarek. Now we are waiting on a court date - how can the courts in Ethiopia not know when they are going to reopen? So now we wait once again God is giving me plenty of oppuntunties to develop my patiences, As I am also waiting for Beth to e-mail me pictures of our two little boys from her recent trip to Ethiopia.

I am grateful that Beth and her family were able to spend time with both my boys. Kaleab was extermly shy and timid would not go near them. My poor little boy, the loss that he currently feels is only the beginning. I can not imagine what is going through is little mind. From his referral pictures I could tell he was shy, scared and sad - I wish I could just hold him in my arms. Also from talking to Beth she said that Yitbarek is a typical little boy, happy, content and interactive. Now if I could just see some more pictures of them.

HELP!

This is for all of you who blog. Ok, now that I have the basics on this blog, how do I get a clock or all the other elements typically found on a blog? That is my goal for the weekend to add to the blog.

Thanks in advance for all the input.

Congratulations to all

My last entry for the night. It seems that Adoption Associates has given out numerous referrals already this week. CONGRATULATIONS to the following people:

Marissa and Marvin on their referral for 7 year old girl and 6-1/2 month old boy!!!
The DeYoung's on their referral for an infant girl
And to the Danielle & her husband on their referral for a 2 year old and an infant girl!!

Who knows we may all be travelling at the same time.

Vaccinations - Travel Doctor

It seems like the big question for a lot of people going through this process is what vaccines should we get? So I thought I would post about our visit to the travel doctor, hopefully we will be able to save some of you money.

Yesterday, Mark and I went to the Travel Doctor located in Grandville. It was a very educational, however I personally would recommend saving your money and going to the health department - I can share the information that we received with you if you would like.

The vaccinations the travel doctor recommends besides, Tetanus, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B are Polio, Meningococcal and Typhoid. Out of those three he said if you could only afford to get one to get Polio. If you plan on spending a lot of time at the orphanages then he would recommend Meningococcal, and only if you were planning on eating at a lot of traditional Ethiopian restaurants or homes to get the Typhoid. Well, Mark sort of surprised me he said that he plans to go to several different orphanages while we were in country to play with the kids and bring treats so he felt it was best that we get all the shots to be on the safe side. However, we past on the Yellow Fever shot.

Here is the break down: Consulation Fees $90 per person (for 2 people, $50 for each additional person after that), Hepatitis A - $95.17 (at the County Health Department $36.00), Hepatitis B - $97.54 (Health Department $35.00), Tetanus- $43.00 (health department tetanus-diphtheria,measles $51.00), Polio - $51.01 (Health department $32.00), Typhoid - $73.89 (health department $55 for the shot or $45 for the pill - note shot is more effective), Meingococcal $130.61 (health department $92.00). Not getting sick with two little ones to take care of PRICELESS.

Anyhow after one visit to the health department and yesterday's visit with the Travel Doctor I am ready to board a plane to pick up our little ones.

Better Late then Never

Finally, I have decided to start a blog. Mark and I are nearing the end of our adoption journey - we have accepted our referral for two little boys - Kaleab and Isaac. Kaleab is approximately two years old and Isaac is now about 4 months old. Llast weekend we have been asked numerous times when do you get to go get them - my answer to everyone is I wish I knew. At this point I would say waiting for the referral was much harder then waiting for a court date but give me a couple of weeks and that will more than likely change. But for now I know I have two sons waiting for us to bring them home.

Let me take you back a little ways. Ever since Mark and I began dating we talked about how we would have two children and then adopt a 3 to 4 year old boy, but God had other plans for us. After two miscarriages in 7 months, numerous tests to determine why the miscarriages to a little over a year of infertility treatments we decided that we would adopt first. The question for us was where from - I was leaning toward Haiti and Mark was leaning toward China after much research and prayer we decided to adopt not one but two children from Ethiopia.